Article: Opening up to competition: the past year has seen the successful introduction of new GSM licences in Oman and Saudi Arabia, and in the next six months new international operators are expected to open for business in Iran and Iraq. Those following the Qatari and UAE markets are still waiting to join in the party.(TELECOMS)

Saudi Arabia's entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on 11 December makes it the last of the six countries of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) to become a member of the organisation. The WTO's watchword is liberalisation, and the opening up of the telecommunications sector is no exception. Kuwait and Bahrain--members since the mid-1990s--have both introduced competition to their mobile telephony market. In 2005, Oman, which joined the organisation in 2000, and Saudi Arabia also liberalised their GSM markets, and the Saudi kingdom's decision to bring forward its target dates for the introduction of both fixed-line competition and a third GSM licence was partly ...

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